Human Rights Watch: Vatican agreement with China has facilitated crackdown on Catholics
April 16, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: A leading international human rights advocacy organization charged that the “2018 Provisional Agreement Regarding the Appointment of Bishops between the Holy See and China, which ended a decades-long dispute over the appointment of bishops in China, has facilitated repression of Catholics in China.”
“A decade into President Xi Jinping’s ‘Sinicization’ of religion campaign, Catholic communities across China face tightened ideological control, strict surveillance, and travel restrictions,” Human Rights Watch stated on April 15. “The Holy See and other governments should press Beijing to end the persecution of Catholic communities and respect the rights to freedom of religion for all Catholics and other religious beliefs.”
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